The Fear Is Paralyzing

Quinn sat at her desk as Mario came in setting something down in front of her. "What is this?" she asked him, looking up at him.

"Happy one year anniversary," he smiled at her. It had been exactly one year ago to the day that Quinn had come to the arena and her entire life had changed. It was the day she became part owner of the Penguins, and the day she met Kris for the first time. Now, she loved the team she once wanted to get rid of, and she and Kris were engaged.

She opened the card and read Mario's handwritten message that told her how grateful he was for her to be co-owner with him. She looked up at him, smiling. "Thank you," she said, standing up and giving him a hug. "If it wasn't for you, I never would have been standing here right now," she told him sincerely.

Mario looked behind her to see Kris making his way into her office. "And, if it wasn't for this man, you wouldn't know anything about hockey," Mario chuckled. He still liked to give her a hard time from time to time about her not knowing anything about hockey coming in. But, Quinn had learned a lot in the past year.

"You ready to go?" Kris asked, having just finished practice. They were going to Quinn's parents house for their weekly dinner. Kris avoided that place whenever he could, but Quinn had asked him if he would go with her this week, and he couldn’t deny her that. She normally went on her own and then would come back home and he'd make her forget what a miserable time she'd had.

"Yeah," Quinn nodded her head. She turned to look at Mario. "Thank you," she told him again as she grabbed her jacket and followed Kris out of her office. "How was practice?" she asked him as they walked down the hallway, Kris a couple of paces ahead of Quinn. Whenever they were at work, they tried to avoid any PDA. They had learned the hard way the chaotic mess that could occur when they let it happen.

They went home and changed for the night and then made their way to her parents' house. Quinn had to practically drag Kris out of the car. He didn't want to go in there. Nothing good ever happened. At least he didn't have to worry about Dean talking about trying to take over the team anymore. He had surprisingly been telling the truth when he told Quinn that he was done trying to take the team from her. However, he was still scheming Darcy and had started "dating" her to try to get the winery from her.

If it had been any other woman, Quinn would have told Darcy the truth and told her to get the hell away from Dean, but Quinn hated Darcy as much, if not more, than she hated Dean, so she'd let her find out the hard way that she shouldn't trust the man.

Kris was happy to see that Noah had brought Riley and a very pregnant Claire along for the evening. He wondered if it was in case Claire's water broke so Noah could be there to take her to the emergency room. They had been waiting on their little girl to come out for several days now, and Claire was starting to get impatient.

Corinne was still very distant with Kris. She still didn't want to admit that he was good for Quinn, and he was sure that she never would say it. Quinn had tried talking to her mother about it, but eventually she gave up even trying, knowing her mother was going to be stuck in her stubborn ways.

Kris didn't even attempt to say hello to Corinne. He hadn't said two words to her since their confrontation after he hadn't told Quinn the whole truth about Dean and Darcy. Corinne seemed to like it better that way, not talking to Kris, and Kris was fine with it as well.

He shook Garrett's hand before sitting down at the table between Garrett and Quinn. Quinn grabbed Kris's hand under the table, giving it a squeeze, letting him know she was glad he was there. She really didn't know where she would be without him, and she wasn't sure she told him that often enough.

Dean started talking about some scheme he had going on to get more out of the Bellerose winery. Apparently he had talked his way into their lives, and had gotten a hold of some of the shares of the company, though neither Kris nor Quinn were quite sure how that had happened. But, as long as his sights were away from them, they didn't really care if he wanted to try to ruin Darcy's life.

Darcy had stuck around Pittsburgh and had tried to sneak her way back into Kris's life, but much to her chagrin, it didn't work. Kris and Quinn were as solid as ever, though she had tried to get them to question it since they hadn't even begun planning their wedding yet.

They had talked about setting a date for their wedding, but every time they discussed it, they realized they couldn't set it anytime soon. Right after he had proposed, Quinn was knee deep in work, trying to get all the trades and contracts set up. And, if they waited til the fall, Kris would be playing again, and they simply wouldn't have enough time to get married. They eventually decided at the end of the following summer. That would give Quinn time to start planning the wedding during the season when she had some extra time, and they could do it after all the trades and contracts were finished in the summer before the next season started. Both of them were looking forward to the wedding, but right now, they were just enjoying being engaged.

Quinn looked around the table before her eyes settled on Kris. She had been through a lot in a year, and her family had definitely changed in that time. She had learned who she couldn't trust, like Dean, and unfortunately her mother. But, she'd also added someone in her family that would love her unconditionally in Kris.

She felt Kris squeeze her knee, and she looked over at him. She knew he didn't want to be at her family dinner tonight, but she was glad he was there. She smiled at him as they continued to eat their dinner, both looking forward to leaving and going home.

What felt like a year later, they were finally on their way back home. "Please tell me we will never make our kids do this when they're twenty-six," Kris said with a chuckle.

Quinn looked over at him, smiling. "Our kids?" she asked him. "You've thought about them? How many do we have?" They had both mentioned that they wanted kids before, but they hadn't discussed it in detail.

"I don’t care as long as I have at least one girl that looks like you," he replied.

Quinn rolled her eyes. "We'll see about that," she said, looking out the window as they pulled into the garage for their apartment.

"Yes we will," he replied, leaning over and kissing her on the lips.